BOS: Sharing rides, whittling down fines

CORNWALL — A list of ongoing projects and concerns was addressed by the Board of Selectmen at the regular meeting on Tuesday, March 1.

One item on the agenda was the good news that a prime 3 acres on Lower River Road may be available for the town to buy. The land, whether through ownership or an easement, is part of a plan to supply a septic system for the Hughes Memorial Library, public restrooms for tourists and room for events and parking. It would tie in with an adjacent Housatonic Valley Association river access project.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has right of first refusal. The agency is considering that now, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said. The next step is an appraisal.

Sharing a ride

Ridgway and Goshen First Selectman Bob Valentine will go later this month to the Department of Transportation (DOT) headquarters in Newington, where various models of transit vans can be viewed.

The towns are moving forward with a $54,000 grant to buy a van they will share for rides for seniors to appointments and shopping. An agreement is also in the works for how ongoing costs will be shared, including drivers, fuel, insurance and maintenance.

The bid specifications for a new tanker were approved by the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department. Ridgway was authorized by the selectmen to work with the truck selection committee to continue the process by seeking bids and placing an order. Delivery could take up to a year.

The board is seeking a road safety audit from the Department of Transportation (DOT) that would focus on the intersection of Routes 7 and 4 in Cornwall Bridge. The need to slow traffic there and find a solution to  a potentially hazardous pedestrian crossing is included in plans for economic development improvements here.

Route 4 east of that intersection to Route 125 is scheduled to be repaved this summer. It is part of the Western New England Green-way bike route. The selectmen are asking the DOT to consider putting road shoulders there.

Selectman Heidi Kearns, who suggested the approach at a previous meeting, said the “complete street” approach was done on Route 202 through Litchfield recently. It was accomplished not by widening the road, which is expensive, but by narrowing the lanes. While not the best solution, she said it could be a workable option here.

Reduction in OSHA fine

The board and town workers continue to address violations cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at Town Hall and the highway department garage. The selectmen objected to being fined more than $3,000 without a chance to do remedies first. They reasoned the money would be better spent on projects that allow the town to comply with guidelines aimed at keeping workers safe.

The latest news is an offer by OSHA to reduce the maximum fine by 40 percent, making it $1,734.

Later this month, an OSHA agent will come to Cornwall to review the various issues, from a missing exit sign to fire extinguisher training, and highway department Supervisor Jim Vanicky will attend a program to learn more about OSHA requirements.

The selectmen voted to approve an informal agreement that includes the reduced fine and would eventually settle the matter.

How times  have changed

Still to be determined is how to address the need to add about a foot of height to the balcony that surrounds the upper reaches of the selectmen’s office in Town Hall. They will work with the building official on that.

During public comment at the meeting, the board and members of the public talked about the requirement for the project and how times have changed. The narrow balcony is now used for storage and there is essentially no public access.

Ridgway recalled that when he was a child and the building was a library, the Cornwall Historical Society had displays on the balcony.

“We would go up the circular stairs and then we’d run around,” he said, remembering items on open exhibit from World War I. “I even think they had guns, helmets, gas masks. There were stuffed animals up there. They had all this great stuff, and so we’d just whip around up there, and nobody fell off, even though we had gas masks on.”

Among agenda items anticipated for the March 15 meeting is the presentation by the Park and Recreation Commission of a plan by the Northwest United Soccer Club (formerly Berkshire United) to use Cornwall’s soccer fields, two at Foote Fields and one that will be reactivated at Hubbard Field (at Jewel and School streets), for league games.

The club draws from the six Region One school district towns — Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon — making Cornwall the most central location.